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What is beauty?

The mirror art left is by Russian artist Francisco Infante-Arana who formed the Russian movement group in 1964. His simple gestures, while a subtle visual disruption to nature, reflects back to the viewer the essence of the invisible beauty which is accentuated in the visual perception of the artist when he contemplates nature.

Modern definitions of Western beauty have been given as ‘the unification of variety’, ‘the sensual manifestation of the idea’, ‘freedom in appearance’ and ‘the infinite expressed in the form of the finite.’ For Onishi, modern Western aesthetics in founded on the congruence of opposites (coincidenta oppositorum.) See ‘A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics.’ ed Michael Marra 2001.

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10 thoughts on “What is beauty?”

It is a beautiful photograph of a beautiful relationship. How much of the beauty derives from the natural world and how much from the man-made contribution? Would it the sculpture be equally beautiful on a patch of paving outside a shopping centre? I once spent a morning photographing a scrubby rag doll in various positions in the wild (by the roots of forest trees, on the shore of a lake, amongst rushes, etc). I liked the results but the doll would have been nothing in a shop window.

One certainly can’t imagine that when polar bears see an igloo, an icecap, a human sculpture, or a tasty Inuit, they have similar perceptions or appreciations to ourselves. So yes, the appreciation of beauty depends on what one has in mind.

Also, the Inuit inside the igloo as they perceive and appreciate the polar bear’s nose (not being too aware of how you would actually know there is a polar bear out there…) would probably view the situation in a remarkably different way from ourselves. Although it is possible to imagine how they feel.

Well, I for one would not attempt to cuddle a polar bear….beyond the size of a one year old. Even nine month old Knut looks like a few lessons in polar bear handling wouldn’t go astray.

And yes – ever since Teddy Roosevelt inadvertently introduced the teddy bear – and used the toy bear as an election mascot – bears have come to be linked to cuddly mascots rather than being perceived as (wildlife) fauna. [ http://www.faktoider.nu/teddybear_eng.html ] It seems that the first ‘cute’ toy polar bear dates to this time too.

So I suppose Teddy Roosevelt can also be credited with being ‘green’ and associated with the early fauna conservation movement.

‘We live in hope and we die in despair’. So young people can hope the polar bear will be saved and old people see it going way of the dodo – with the human race finding the conditions on Easter Island prevailing everywhere. That grim line of Easter Island statues even looks like a line of skyscrapers, perhaps on the Dubai waterfront. I wonder if dodo feathers were ever used to make clothing. ‘The etymology of the word dodo is unclear. Some ascribe it to the Dutch word dodoor for “sluggard”, but it more likely is related to dodaars (“knot-arse”), referring to the knot of feathers on the hind end.’

It is a very clever way to combine natural and artificial to create beauty. The sculpture may play a role as “medium”—not only a sculpture itself. I think it has ‘spirit function’ to reflect the ‘genius of the place’. As Norberg Schulz’s theory:’A place is a space which has a distinct character. Since ancient times the genius loci, or “spirit of place”, has been recognized as the concrete reality man has to face and come to terms with in his daily life….’